Illustrious man! deriving honor less from the splendor of his
situation than from the dignity of his mind.
- [Washington, George]

It is all very well to tell me that a young man has distinguished
himself by a brilliant first speech. He may go on, or he may be
satisfied with his first triumph; but show me a young man who has
not succeeded at first, and nevertheless has gone on, and I will
back that young man to do better than most of those who have
succeeded at the first trial.
- [Perseverance]

It must, indeed, create astonishment that, placed in
circumstances so critical, and filling a station so conspicuous,
the character of Washington should not once have been called in
question; that he should, in no instance, have been accused
either of improper indolence or of mean submission, in his
transactions with foreign nations. It has been reserved for him
to run the race of glory without experiencing the smallest
interruption to the brilliancy of his career. The breath of
censure has not dared to impeach the purity of his conduct, nor
the eye of envy to raise its malignant glance to the elevation of
his virtues. Such has been the transcendent merit and the
unparalleled fate of this illustrious man!
- in the British Parliament, 1794
[Washington, George]

Kings govern by means of popular assemblies only when they cannot
do without them.
- [Kings]

No one could be so wise as Thurlow looked.
- see Campbell's "Lives of the Lord Chancellors", vol. V, p. 661
[Wisdom]

There is a spirit of resistance implanted by the Deity in the
breast of man, proportioned to the size of the wrongs he is
destined to endure.
- [Resentment]

True humanity consists not in a squeamish ear; it consists not in
starting or shrinking at tales of misery, but in a disposition of
heart to relieve it. True humanity appertains rather to the mind
than to the nerves, and prompts men to use real and active
endeavors to execute the actions which it suggests.
- [Humanity]